They had an aluminium scratchplate that was painted black.
“The first production run of Musicmasters Fender did was in April 1956, and they’re extremely rare. The tuners were Klusons with plastic buttons, to try and keep the cost lower.
It also used the same knobs and steel saddles as the Telecaster. The initial run had a thicker ash body and a maple neck, and it used the same pickup and pickup cover as the Champ steel. “When Leo started putting together the Musicmaster, he was using the same high-quality materials they were already using for the other guitars. It was always a constant evolution for Leo – he was always moving forward. You start to think, ‘What is the intention behind constantly tweaking it?’ And in some ways that can be explained, but sometimes it makes no sense at all. “As a collector, I had every single one of the 22 variations of Musicmaster that Fender made. “It’s essentially a mini Stratocaster with one pickup…” Fender Musicmaster & Duo-Sonic (Image credit: Paul Kelly) Musicmaster
